


Revelations

by misura



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: M/M, Minor Galen Erso/Bodhi Rook, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 11:38:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16094906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "Honestly, Galen? A cargo pilot?"





	Revelations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MiriamKenneath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriamKenneath/gifts).



Krennic tries to look disapproving rather than smug. Remembering how good Galen is at this little game of theirs helps; he can't know with absolute certainty that this encounter isn't part of Galen's plan, too, that Krennic was always meant to find out, to summon Galen to his office and say, "Honestly, Galen? A cargo pilot?"

Galen's expression is calm, a little amused. A lot suggestive that Krennic is taking all of this entirely too serious or, even worse, that he's let his emotions get the better of him.

(It is a truth universally acknowledged that one cannot have a career in the Empire without spending a certain amount of time under or bent over one's superior officer's desk. Krennic knows quite well where his appreciation of Galen as an asset-with-benefits ends and his self-interest begins.)

"He's a romantic," Galen says, as if this explains anything.

Krennic rolls his eyes. He doesn't say, _'like Lyra?'_. "He's a nobody. He's not even particularly skilled. To be honest, I think your standards are slipping."

"My standards," Galen repeats. Galen is very good at talking back at people without saying much.

In some ways, carrying on a conversation with Galen is a lot like having sex with him: given a tenth of a chance, he'll end up letting someone else do all the work.

(The trick is not to give him that chance. To keep his attention focused only on the here and now - here are my hands on your body. Here is my mouth, kissing yours. Here is the lube.)

If Krennic were an idiot, he might suspect Galen of plotting another escape, another run towards the farming life. Bodhi Rook hardly seems the heroic type, though. As Krennic has already said: a nobody.

"Your standards," Krennic says, because two can play the echo game. "So what's the idea? Should I be jealous? I'm not."

"This is for what you called me here?" Galen asks.

Krennic could have him shot. They've stopped needing Galen weeks ago. It's very possible that they didn't even need him to start with, but unlike some of his colleagues, Krennic doesn't see the point of having power and not using it for your personal gratification.

Getting rid of Lyra in the process was a nice bonus. Losing the child, Galen's child - well. Krennic's already sharing Galen with his work and now with this cargo pilot. Krennic is not a cruel man; as long as she keeps her head down, Jyn Erso can go to the devil for all he cares.

"I'd like you to join me for dinner," he says. _'I'd like you to pretend to be mine alone for a few hours,'_ is what he means.

"No," Galen says. "Thank you. If that was all?"

"I could have him re-assigned. Or arrested." Under the right circumstances, an interrogation chair can add a certain piquancy. Not with Galen, Krennic doesn't think, but he suspects Bodhi would crack like an egg.

"As I said, he's a romantic. Go right ahead."

For a moment, Krennic is tempted. A test, he tells himself. Nothing too permanent.

It's a pity he can't think of any tidbit of information he'd like for Bodhi to 'reveal' during questioning.

"You used to be more protective," he says.

Galen smiles, very faintly. Krennic tries to remember the last time he's seen Galen smile a true smile. "So do you."

"I still am," Krennic says. It's not even a lie. Galen as he is now, as Krennic has made him, would hardly prosper under anyone else. Galen would never be able to do as Krennic does, to sacrifice what he must, in order to have the career he deserves. "Your efforts to the contrary notwithstanding."

"Possessiveness is not the same as protectiveness."

Krennic decides Bodhi needs to go, sooner rather than later. Not arrested or re-assigned, fine - a defection, then? Like power, a weapon needs to be used in order to be of value: dispatch Bodhi to the right party, and the Rebellion may well be tempted to do something foolish enough to justify killing an entire planet.

"And going away isn't the same as leaving?" It stings, that he's let Galen get away from him once, that he didn't see it coming. It's made him a little paranoid.

"I left the Empire," Galen replies. "Leaving you was an unintended consequence. Somehow, I did not think that you would care to join us."

Krennic imagines it: Galen and Lyra and the child and himself, stuck on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Pure hell. "You should have gone further. Or done a better job hiding, if you really didn't want to be found."

Galen shrugs, a gesture that might mean anything and probably means nothing at all.

"You never did answer my question," Krennic says. "Why that particular cargo pilot?" He'll send Bodhi to Saw Gerrera, he thinks. The man's a paranoid lunatic, so chances are nothing will come of it at all, but it should stir things up a bit. At worst, he'll be rid of Bodhi.

At best, he'll get to see Galen's one and only love, manifested in service to the Empire one last time.

"He looked like a man who'd rather be somewhere else. Some place kinder, and happier."

"And you thought he was going to find that place in your bed?" Krennic scoffs.

"I thought it was a nice idea," Galen says. "Like I said, he's a romantic. That is all. Do with that as you please. Now, I really must get back to work. We'll have dinner some other time."

"Soon." Krennic hates to sound so eager. Still, considering what he's going to set in motion for Galen's sake, it only seems fair that he gets some sort of recompense.

Galen is already halfway to the door, his "Soon," sounding rather a lot like _'Never'_.

Krennic tells himself it will only make his eventual victory that much sweeter.


End file.
